Beyoncé's ‘Cowboy Carter’ transmits joy, honours legends and challenges a segregated industry

Today's episode is about Beyoncé's new album, Cowboy Carter. Beyoncé’s country-inspired album has caused a stir because the country music scene has long been white dominated, with a history of segregation that has erased its Black roots and gate kept it from Black artists.
The release of Beyoncé’s new album, Cowboy Carter, was a much awaited event for a lot of us. There was much anticipation about this being a country album - and a lot of talk about the resistance some radio stations had and still have to that idea. That’s because country music is considered "white music," even though its Black historical roots are well documented. But Cowboy Carter is about so much more than country music. It honours other Black musical legends - and challenges the segregation we still see and hear in the music industry today. Vinita is joined by two experts to talk about it all. Alexis McGee is an Assistant Professor of Writing Studies at the University of British Columbia and author of "From Blues to Beyoncé: A Century of Black Women’s Generational Sonic Rhetorics." And Jada Watson is Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities at the School of Information Studies at the University of Ottawa. Her current research, called SongData, uses music industry data to examine representation in the country music industry.
SHOW NOTES: theconversation.com/beyonces-...
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[@keithbell9348]

Wow. I don't know if I should feel privileged or fortunate to be able to contribute to this program. But here goes- "a segregated industry". Music, as an artform, is "segregated?" REALLY? The reason that is so difficult for me to wrap my mind around that is because I grew up listening too and enjoying a plelethora of different types of music. R&B, soul, rock n roll, classic rock, pop, jazz, country, folk, punk. And if all of these had their own "fusion" versions of these seperate genres, and it resonated with me, I was all over it! I never denied myself the satisfaction of enjoying various artforms and being attracted to something new and different. That is why I became a big fan of at least 3 artists. One was Prince, (of course he didnt hesitate to try anything he wanted too regardless of what anyone else thought) and no one stopped him. The Beetles- they ditched the typical hearthrob doo wa doo hold you hand stuff for embarking on whatever their imagination took them too while engrossing in a blending rock, pop, sympathy and more. Beyonce- I get the impression it was as if she took up the mantle Prince left behind and she is delving into whatever the heck she feels like! In realty "genres" is a social construct. Created not for the sake of music, but rather for the sake of consumeri$m. In reality- its all an illusion. Becuase I seriously doubt that there is not one living soul (apart from people who live in extremely isolated communities with no contact with the outside world), Including those who do the actual catagorizing of music, who strictly confine their personal music tastes to just THAT or THIS kind of music. If they hear a song regardless of what kind of music it is, they can and WILL listen too it, enjoy it and then put it on repeat. Thank you and your two guests for sharing their thoughts on this controversial subject. I found it really fascinating and educational. And thanks to Beyonce for helping us all to re-think this wonderful free to enjoy and free to play and perform- anyway you want too- gift called music. Sorry for being so long winded.